Address tag



23; 1934. P, wRlGHT 1,944,387

ADDRE S S TAG Original Filed Dec. 5,` 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet l Hmmm Jan. 23, 1934.

P. WRIGHT 1,944,387 ADDRESS TAG Original Filed D ec. 5, 1927 4 sheets-sheet 2 P. WRIGHT Jan. 23, 1934.

ADDRE S S TAG V4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed Dec. 5, 1927 Jan. 23, 1934. P. WRIGHT 1,944,387

` ADDRESS TAG Original Filed Dec. 5, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Jan. 273,- 1934 PATENT OFFICE ADDRESS TAG Parvin Wright, Seattle, Wash., assignor to The Gerrard Company, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corpora-f tion of Delaware Original application December 5, 1927, Serial No.V

237,704. Divided and this application April 24,.

1930. Serial N0. 446,882

1 Claim.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a shipping tag of novel construction which is designed to cooperate in a highly efcient manner with the machine on which the tag V s to be printed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction of the tag and the way in which it is designed to cooperate with the machine.

One form of the invention is presented herein for the purpose of exemplification, but it will of course be understood that the invention is susceptible of embodiment in other slightly modified structural forms coming equally within the scope of the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front View of a machine of the type with which the tags may be used;

Fig. 2 is a top View of the machine, with the cover removed;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section, taken on the line 3 3 of Figrl;

Fig. 4 is another vertical section, taken on the 25,- line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section, corresponding in a general way to the upper portion of Fig. 3, showing the stencil carrier in loading, as 'distinguished from printing, position;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical section, similar to Fig. 5, showing the positions of the several moving parts at .the completion of each printing operation; i

Fig. 'I is a perspective View of a strip of tags, before being fed into the machine;

Fig. 8 is a face View of one of the tags after being printed; and Y Fig. 9 is a perspective View of a strip of tags which is slightly different from that shown in Fig. 7.

The particular machine shown in the drawings to illustrate the type of machine on which the tags may be printed is a small l1andoperated device which has, as its main parts, a feeding roll 10, a printing roll 11, an inking roll 12 and a stencil carrier 13. The tags which the machine is adaptedA to address are made in the form of a continuous strip 14, in which strip each tag 15 is joined to the preceding one by two uncut webs 16 and is provided with six apertures 17 for cooperation with the feeding roll 10 of the machine.

The strip 14 passes between the feeding roll and the stencil carrier 13, and the printing 5,5.:roll 11, which is inked by the inking roll 12,

presses a stencil '18 in the carrier firmlyv againstv one of the tags in the strip and prints the same, the stencil carrier and inking roll moving with the feeding roll throughout the printing opera-` tion.

Upon completion of the printing operation, and while thenext tag in the strip is being advanced by the feeding roll into printing posin tion, the stencil carrier, which has a reciprocat-A ing movement, is released by the printingV roll and returns to its initial position, whereupon the printing operation is repeated. The strip- 14 is fed into the machine through two spaced side guides 19, and leaves the same through two spaced side guides 20.

Thefeeding roll is secured to a shaft 21 which is journaled in two side frame members 22, and is provided, near its ends, with pins 23 which engage within the apertures 17 in the tags. The roll is also provided, near its ends, with pins 24 which are longer` and sharper than the pins 23 and serve both as gauges for bringing the apertures 17 in the tags intorregister with the pins 23 when the strip of tags is inserted inthe machineand as cutters for separating the tags from each other at the Webs 16 during the printing operation. The feeding roll isrotated continuously in one directionA by means of a hand crank 25. The hand crank is secured to ashaft 26 which is journaled in the frame members `22,* and a pinion 27 is secured to such shaft and meshes with a pinion 28 which in turn meshes with a pinion 29 secured' to the shaft 21.

The printing rollis located above the feeding roll, and is secured to a shaft 30 whichis journaled in the frame members 22. The pinion 28, which meshes with the pinions 27 and 29, isalso secured to the shaft 30, and causes the printing rollto move with the feeding roll. The printing roll has two convex faces 31. and two concave faces 32. The convex faces transfer the ink from the inking roll to the stencil in the carrier, while the concavefaces provideY clearance for the stencil carrier and permit the same to return to its initial position after each printing operation.

The stencil carrier rides on the strip of tags between the feeding and printing rolls, and is a rectangular frame which is pivoted at 33 to two arms 34 which are secured to a shaft 35 journaled in the frame members 22. The carrier is reciprocated by a cam 36 which is secured to the shaft 26 and operates intermittently against a rack 37 which meshes with a pinion 38 secured to the shaft 35. The cam 36 causes the carrier to swing outwardly at the completion of each printing operation, and one of the convex faces on the printing roll engages with the carrier against the inner margin of the same and causes the carrier to swing inwardly at the commencement of each printing operation. A spring 39 is also connected up in such a way with the shaft as to maintain the carrier in its outwardly swung position until engaged and swung inwardly by the printing roll.

The inking roll is located above the printing roll in concentric relation to the shaft 26, and the surface of the inking roll is wiped over by a pad 40 which is positioned in the bottom of an ink reservoir 41. The reservoir rests upon the inking roll, and is maintained in proper position relative thereto by two arms 42 on the reservoir which are slotted and hook over the shaft 35. The reservoir may be relled by removing a plug 43 which screws into the top of the same. The inking roll is secured to a sleeve 44 which is journaled on the shaft 26, and rotates in the same direction as the shaft but at a different speed. A pinion 45 is secured to the sleeve 44 alongside the pinion 27 on the shaft 26 and is meshed with a pinion 46 which is secured to the shaft 30 alongside the pinion 28 which is also secured to that shaft. The difference in speed referred to is obtained by giving the pinion 45 less teeth than the pinion 27 and the pinion 46 more teeth than the pinion 28. As a result of such difference, the con- 'spring abutment 47, which normally limits the extent to which the carrier swings outwardly, is depressed, and the carrier is swung outwardly beyond such abutment and rotated about the pivots 33 into the elevated position shown in Fig. f5, in which position the carrier is readily accessible. The carrier consists of a lower rectangular frame 48 and an upper rectangular frame 49. The stencil 18 is positioned between the frames. One edge 50 of the upper frame is inserted within a groove 51 in the lower frame, and an ear 52 on the opposite edge of the upper frame is sprung toward an ear 53 on the lower frame and held in that position by a latch 54 which is movable into a position under the head of a; bolt 55 which provvjects upwardly from the ear 53. If it is desired to remove the carrier entirely from the machine in changing the stencil, the arms 34 on which the carrier is pivoted may be sprung apart far enough to cause the pivot pins at 33 to disengage from the complementary recesses in the carrier.

The machine operates on the strip of tags as follows:

The hand crank 25 is rst turned into a position wherein one of the convex faces 31 on the printing roll 11 is in engagement with the stencil 18 in the carrier 13, after which the strip 14 of tags is fed by hand through the guides 19 far enough to bring the entering edge of the strip up against a pair of the starting pins 24 on the feeding roll 10.

The hand crank is then rotated, and the stencil carrier, which is moved by the printing roll, clamps the entering edge of the strip against the feeding roll, and the pins 23 on the feeding roll enter the apertures 17 in the tags. As soon as one of the convex faces on the printing roll moves out of engagement with the stencil, the stencil carrier is moved back by the cam 36 in a direction opposite tothat in which the strip and the feeding and printing rolls are moving, and, as soon as the stencil carrier comes to rest, the other curved face on the printing roll comes into engagement with it and moves it into a position wherein it is clamped against the first tag in the strip between the feeding and printing rolls, at which time the printing operation occurs, the feeding roll, tag, stencil carrier and printing roll moving along together as a unit in tightly clamped association. Upon completion of the printing operation, the stencil carrier is moved back again by the cain 36 and the printing operation is repeated on each of the succeeding tags.

The tags in the strip, instead of being connected together only by the two side webs 16, as shown in Fig. 7, may be -also connected together by a central web 56, as shown in Fig. 9. The central webs will prevent the central portions of the tags from bulging upwardly and interfering with the movement of the stencil carrier if the tags are thin and consequently inclined to bulge, and will hold the tags loosely together after they leave the machine, which, under some circumstances, is quite desirable. Furthermore, the tags, instead of having six apertures, may have a greater or less number of apertures, depending upon the number of pins needed for cooperation therewith in the feeding mechanism of the machine.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 237,704 which was filed December 5, 1927.

I claim:

As an article of manufacture, a strip of connected tags, formed of stiff sheet material such as cardboard, which strip is adapted to be fed through an addressing machine in engagement with a. feeding mechanism having projections thereon, each tag in the strip being connected to the preceding one by narrow uncut webs which are located adjacent the sides of the strip and are aligned with the other uncut webs between the other tags throughout the strip, and each tag being provided with a plurality of apertures also in alignment with said uncut webs throughout the strip, said apertures beingl designed to intert with certain of said projections for centering the strip in the machine, and said webs being designed to coact with certain of said projections to separate each tag from the strip.

PARVIN WRIGHT. 

